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December 14, 1962 - Image 4

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The Michigan Daily, 1962-12-14

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Seventy-Third Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
"Where Opinions Are Free STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG., ANN ARBOR, MICH., PHONE NO 2-3241
Trutb Will Prevail"'' '
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. Tha imust be noted in all reprints.

THE ALGER HISS CASE:
Making and Breaking of Nixon

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1962

NIGHT EDITOR: PHILIP SUTIN

Learning and Teaching Center
Exhibits Great Potential

BEING A GOOD teacher requires more than
a doctorate in an academic specialty.
It is in recognition of the special skills
required in teaching that the Center on Learn-
ing and Teaching has been created. Already, the
center is working on several important pro-
jects: programmed learning, the preparation
of graduate students to teach and working as
a clearing house for the vast body of literature
that is produced on teaching and learning.
Clearly, this is only a beginning. The center
will eventually be engaged in a great deal of
research on teaching and learning. But the
center, in order to be of the greatest use to
the University community, must fulfill two
conditions:
1) It ought to be service oriented with the
bulk of its energies being concentrated on the
introduction of new teaching methods and aid-
ing individual teachers and departments in
whatever ways it can.
2) It ought to work as much toward achiev-
ing an ideal classroom situation as toward
alleviating the University's instructional prob-
lems at the most crowded level.
THE CENTER cannot become solely a re-
search unit. Its research ought to be cen-
tered around the effects of the implementation
of various teaching methods in the University's
classrooms. If the center becomes a pure re-.
search center, much of its value to the Uni-
versity community will be destroyed or diluted.
Prof. Ericksen is already doing much along
the lines of direct aid to University teachers.
Presently, he is planning a series of symposia
on programmed learning with faculty members
in different areas to determine the relevance

of programmed learning to different fields.
This is the kind of project the center ought
to be undertaking.
Similarly, the center could study the effects
of large lectures on the learning process. If lec-
tures are merely dispensers of facts to passive
students, perhaps the lecturers themselves
could be dispensed with in favor of programmed
learning. Similarly, the center could study
questions of optimum class size and the kind
of physical situation in which the student learns
best. All these are questions of direct relevance
to the implementation of educational programs.
THE SECOND area-working toward an ideal
classroom and teacher-is extremely im-
portant. One of the significant projects that
falls into the center's area of concern is the
relationship between teacher and text. This
has to be done through work with the individ-
ual faculty members. The center should strive
for an answer to the question of how a teacher
can balance his presentation between a repeti-
tion of text and new material.
Another and perhaps a more significant ques-
tion is the previously mentioned problem of the
optimum classroom. As the University provides
new facilities, it is crucial that these new class-
rooms be suitable for the newest teaching tech-
niques. The center can help the University
adapt to the teaching of the future or at least
plan for it.
The center provides great promise. At the
moment, it is living up to that promise. Hope-
fully it will expand in the proper direction and
be of even greater service to the University
community.
-DAVID MARCUS

(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the
second of two articles dealing with
Richard Nixon's involvement in
the Alger Hiss case and some of its
portents for America today.)
By ROBERT SELWA
RICHARD NIXON "was respond-
ing to a situation in this
country," Alger Hiss said on How-
ard K. Smith's program on ABC
last month.
The reference was to the way
Nixon went about pushing (and
later used) the conviction of Hiss
for perjury,
"If it hadn't been Mr. Nixon,
perhaps someone else would have
tried to jump into the same situ-
ation and benefit by it," Hiss
continued.
Like the other points Hiss made
on the program (which was greet-
ed with angry and irrational de-
nunciation), this point has valid-
ity. For it was Nixon and Senator
Joseph McCarthy who jumped in-
to the situation to benefit tcn-
porarily by it. Together they
launched the second periodof
hysteria, the second Red scare,
that America has suffered this
century.
* * *
NIXON PLAYED his part by
helping to get Hiss convicted for
perjury, by pre-empting Mc-
Carthy in the charges and out-
cries of treachery in the State
Department, and then by back-
ing McCarthy when the Wiscon-
sin Senator began his knife path
to fame.
Immediately after the first t-'al
of Hiss ended July 8, 1949 with
a hung jury of eight for convic-
tion, four for acquittal, Nixon was
interviewed in the New York Her-
ald Tribune. The Herald Tribune
is noted for its avid Republican
partisanship, and remember, the
Hiss controversy was partly a par-
tisan Republican crusade against
the Democratic administration of
Harry Truman.
The Herald Tribune quoted Nix-
on as saying that there should be
an immediate investigation of
Judge Samuel H. Kaufman's con-
duct of the trial. Judge Kaufman's
"prejudice . . . against the prose-
cution was so obvious and ap-
parent that the jury's 8-4 vote
for conviction came frankly as a
surprise to me." Nixon commented.
Within a day these charges
were making bannerhheadlines in
other papers. And the press was
carrying more Nixonia: the rep-
resentative said he thought that
Judge Kaufman should have al-
lowed the prosecution to call a
couple of eleventh-hour witnesses
whom the judge had ruled out.
Nixon added that the Truman
Administration "was extremely
anxious that nothing bad happen
to Mr. Hiss."
* * *
WHILE THESE and similar
charges were burning headlines
and while the addresses of two
jurors voting for acquital were
published, the Christian Science
Monitor ran a story by Mary
Hornaday, who had covered the
trial. Like the New York Times,
the Monitor is admired nationally
and internationally for its in-
tegrity.
The Monitor story dealt with
the harm that the blasts at Judge
Kaufman would do to the in-
stitution of a free and impartial
U.S. judiciary. "If Mr. Hiss had
been acquitted, the attacks on the
Judge probably would have been
even more violent," the story com-
mented.
"The great attack on judge and
jury that had followed the first
trial," A. J. Liebling writes in "The
Press," "had obviated any chance
of getting a fair jury in New
York." Hiss' lawyers asked for a

change of venue to Vermont
"where the press coverage of the
trial was very limited" in contrast
to the "extraordinary virulence"
of the New York press. This re-
quest was denied by the Grand
Jury of New York (which had in-
dicted Hiss).
* * *
ON THE OTHER hand, the
HUAC, in spite of Nixon's urg-
ings, refused at that time to call
witnesses to testify before it who
had been ruled out by Judge
Kaufman during the trial. And
several authorities came to Judge
Kaufman's defense-notably Rep.
Emmanuel Celler, chairman of the
House Judiciary Committee, and
Robert P. Patterson, president of
the New York City Bar. President
Truman strongly backed Judge
Kaufman at a news conference.
And Senator Scott Lucas declared:
"Reckless and irresponsible state-
ments have aroused fear and in-
dignation in the minds of many
lawyers."
Still the second trial began
November 17, 1949 in New York in
an atmosphere hostile to Hiss,
created by the press, and made
possible by Nixon. Hiss was found
guilty January 21, 1950 by the
second jury on the two counts of
denying that he had delivered
State Department papers to Whit-
taker Chambers and denying that
he had know Chambers after 1936.
Secretary of State Dean Ache-
son was asked his reaction to the
situation. "I do not intend to
turn my back on Alger Hiss,"
Acheson replied, quoting the 25th
chapter of Matthew: "I was sick
and ye visited me; I was in prison
and ye came unto me . He later
explained that as a Christian
mindful of the virtue of compas-
sion, he could not turn on Hiss
now that Hiss had become a tra-
gic figure.
IF THERE can be pinpointed
one starting place for what has
come down to be known to us as
McCarthyism, this may have been
it. Nixon and McCarthy played
the lead roles, using theHiss case
and the Acheson defense for the
opening scene. McCarthy asserted
in the Senate: "I think the Ameri-
can people ought to begin to won-
der what's going on." And Nixon
took the floor of the House for
a special order of business attend-
ed by 150 representatives.
For an hour and a half Nixon
meticulously assailed the Truman
Administration for "failure to
bring that (Communist) conspir-
acy to light." He blasted "gaps in
government security" and assert-
ed.
'Traitors in the high councils
of our own government have made
sure that the deck is stacked on
the Soviet side of the diplomatic
tables. The odds are five to three
against us."
* * *
A FEW DAYS later (February
9) McCarthy made the historically
famous Wheeling, West Virginia
speech with his unexamined list
of 57 Communists in the State
Department. Denouncing Secre-
tary Acheson as "a pompous dip-
lomat in striped pants with a
phony British accent," he de-
clared that the State Department
was "infested with Communists."
"I have in my hand," he said, "57
cases of individuals who would
appear to be either card-carrying
members or certainly loyal to the
Communist party. But they are
nevertheless still helping to shape
our foreign policy."
Eleven days later McCarthy
gave a six-hour speech in the
Senate giving details on what was
now 81 cases but again leaving
out names.

"McCarthy had notling but the
files of a newspaperman last
month vhen he started making
speeches about Communists in the
State Department," Newsweek said
March 13, 1950. "But when Mc-
Carthy was challenged to put up
or shut up, Nixon, who wants to be
a Republican Senator from Cali-
fornia, came to McCarthy's rescue
with a list of the department's
'suspects' compiled in 1946 when
James Byrnes was Secretary of
State. A check of the 108 possible
'security risks' on that list showed
McCarthy that 38 were still in
the State Department and 16 in
other government agencies."
* * *
THE SECOND Red scare began
to roll, with a McCarthy-inspired
subcommittee investigation in the
Senate and with renewed, Nixon-
inspired House Un-American Ac-
tivities Committee investigations
in theHouse based on Chamber's
testimony.
While McCarthy got temporary
demagogic fame out of it, Nixon
got the Senate seat he wanted.
And betting his new political for-
tune on Dwight Eisenhower, he
got on the ticket and was swept
into the Vice-Presidency through
Eisenhower's great popularity.
"That first two-dollar bet" on
Whittaker Chambers, Liebling
notes, landed Nixon "within a
heartbeat, a yard of intestine, and
112,000 votes, of the White House,
on three separate occasions and
in that order."
Nixon himself writes that if it
hadn't been for the Hiss case, he

would have been President. And
if it hadn't been for the Hiss case,
he would not have been Vice-
President and a candidate !or
President, he admits.
In short, Americans may elect
a man like Nixon to almost any
office but that of President, a
position that requires temperance
and compassion.
NOW THAT NIXON has lost
(running on his own name) twice
in a row, he says he is quitting.
Americans can help him keep this
happy pledge by never electing
him to public office again. The
pledge should be kept even to the
point of not even giving him a
primary nomination, for Richard
Nixon is a vicious man who man-
ages to bring an opponent's al-
leged softness on Communism in
every election.
Like the second period of hys-
teria that he helped initiate, Nixon
ought to be forever removed from
the American political scene.
The history he made cannot be
erased, however. Like the Sacco
and Vanzetti case, the Hiss af-
fair is yet to be solved conclusively.
New evidence was found last year
regarding the Woodstock type-
writer involved, to cast more doubt
on the alleged guilt of Hiss, just
as new evidence on the painful
Sacco and Vanzetti case is being
uncovered.
Neither toothache will go away
for good, and since the cases are
part of history, they can't be
pulled.

CAPITOL PRESS:
Adlai Stevenson's
Political Dissent

On Becoming a 'Mensch'

GERMAN AND YIDDISH offer a concept'
Grecian in its beauty and profundity: the
concept of a "mensch."
A mensch is, literally, a "real human being."
Colloquially he would be a "neat" or "regular."
To him we may attribute the vertu of a Renais-
sance man, and the endearingly human quali-
ties which spring from a great heart.
The point is that we face a shortage of
mensches, and the University should see about
turning out some more.
WE CANNOT just transform a motley of 27,-
' 000 students into mensches. We need a
pilot group to begin with, and the Honors Col-
lege seems a likely guinea pig. Honors stu-
dents, having passed a rigid screening, should
be capable of the metamorphis to menschlich-
keit. Not that Prof. Otto Graf, head of the
Honors College, conspicuously wonders whether
applicants are mensch material before except-
ing them; but only that the ability and achieve-
ment necessary for election to Honors, and
the liberal arts curriculum of most honors
students, should prove useful becoming a
mensch.
But admission to honors does not auto-
matically bestow menschlichkeit. Attaining
such a character requires much sweat, which
at present is not forthcoming-or at least
not in the right direction.
How then, can we channel sweat into a
mensch machine?
THE UNIVERSITY offers the greatest po-
tential mensch machine conceivable. Its lec-
ture series daily presents glimpses into every
No Juniket
FOR OVER a week now, Sen. Allen J. Ellen-
der of Louisiana has been the target for
criticisms of all sorts, but one of the most
prevalent is the charge that he is ruining Amer-
ica's image "on government money," by carry-
ing his segregationist views into Africa.
In point of fact, Sen. Ellender finances his
trips out of personal funds, using federal fa-
cilities only for travel - a privilege to which
he is entitled as a Senator. (It goes with the
job.)
In addition, the Senator, upon returning
from his, trips, submits long and detailed re-
ports, often running into the thousands of
pages and taking many hours to prepare.
Somehow, regardless of the Senator's views
or alleged remarks, it would seem, in the light
of his record, that he is attempting to do a
good job for his constituents. On this, at least,
he is to be applauded, for in Washington these
days, it's a rarity.
-MICHAEL HARRAH
City Editor
Editorial Staff
MICHAEL OLINICK, Editor
JUDITH OPPEN HEIM MICHAEL HARRAH
Editorial Director City Editor
CAROLINE DOW...................Personnel Director
JUDITH BLEIER ... ............Associate City Editor
FRED RUSSELL KRAMER .. Assoc. Editorial Director

field of human endeavor. Its concert and
professional theatre programs render art a
living practicality to those who take advan-
tage of them, as do the multitudinous student
productions. Even a serious stroll through the
University museums broadens the student, mak-
ing him more of a mensch.
Participating in educational student activi-
ties proves even more menschable. The na-
tion's best glee club, marching and symphony
bands, musical comedy group, college newspa-
per, are all available. Or try literary and humor
magazines, drama workshops, political groups.
In addition to the skills, the mensch's vertu,
gained through these activities, the participant
gains the mensch's human qualities by working
cooperatively with-people of different opinions
and backgrounds, with superiors of wider ex-
perience, with the most stimulating minds of
our generation.
But our mensch material in Honors with
the 3.0 average and the super-abundance of
work demanded of it hanging over its head,
rarely finds time to delve into these activities,
to explore new realms of thought.
And delve the mensch candidate must. Delve,
not drown. The honors work load or grade re-
quirement should not be drastically reduced
to allow students to throw themselves hog-wild
into free-lance education; but they could be lib-
eralized to permit a bit more mensch-producing
experience.
LET US COMPARE the values of purely for-
mal assignments and the mensch program,
with Great Books 191, a survey of ancient Greek
literature for freshman honors students, as an
example. The course, necessarily limited, ex-
cludes study of the sixth century Greek poets.
Would the Great Books student not have found
a lecture on those poets by an expert beneficial?
Yet few found the time to attend such a lec-
ture, delivered here this fall, when faced with a
myriad of reading assignments, themes, and
exams. While studying "Prometheus Bound,"
would the student not have gained more from
seeing the production than from reviewing the
script for a blue-book?
To develop a lucid writing style, one of the
course's objectives, would not working at The
Daily, hounded by a host of ruthless superiors
demanding constant perfection, achieve more
than an essay every few weeks?
BUT THE PROBLEM lies more in the gen-
eral nature of formal education than in
any particular course. Studying four or five
courses a semester hardly develops the wide
range of a mensch. The English major is rare-
ly free to attend lectures on, say, paleontology,
a fascinating subject which should be at least
mildly familiar to every mensch.
Similarly, few chemistry majors get to sing
and few political science students can culti-
vate an interest in horticulture. Liberalized
work loads and grade requirements would en-
able such people to improve themselves with
such diversity.
Enable. True, less work would enable stu-
dents'"to mensch it. But some system of seeing
that they do so seems necessary. Conferences
between students and teachers, such as those
held in English universities, suggest themselves.
Evaluation of a student's progress would be in-
formal. Instructors, with fewer formal assign-
ment rn ae.rl wonl have the tim fn rmh

By ELLEN SILVERMAN
THE ONLY consensus which
could be made was that "more
than Stevenson has been hurt.
The press, the President, the pro-
cesses of deliberation within gov-
ernment have been damaged," as
the New Republic says.
The issue at hand is that of
a recentsSaturday Evening Post
article which depicted United Na-
tions Ambassador Adlai Stevenson
as the one dissenting official voice
in the recent considerations of the
Cuban situation.
The article wouldn't have caus-
ed such a stir except that the
authors, Charles Bartlett and
Stewart Alsop, have intimate con-
tact with the President and Bart-
lett was the newsman who four
months before Chester Bowles'
change in status had predicted
that Bowles was out.
* * *
THE PRESIDENT has " denied
that Stevenson "wanted a Mu-
nich" as the article says. Steven-
son has denied the whole story
and labeled it "irresponsible." But
newspapers all over, the country
are going over the situation with
a fine tooth comb.
According to U.S. News and,
World Report, "all is not serene
in the White House." It points out
that the authors of the Post story
had interviews with Attorney Gen-
eral Robert Kennedy and Presi-
dential Aide McGeorge Bundy
prior to publication. Further, it
quotes "unidentified sources" as
implying that the article is cor-
rect-Stevenson was not in accord
with the rest of the National Se-
curity Council Executive Commit-
tee and did want to go more

slowly and talk things out before
action was taken-but, that what
is "lousy" is the fact that it was
leaked to the press.
Time seems to disregard much
of the article, dismissing it on
the grounds that the whole story
sounds like something out of fic-
tion-Allen Drury's Washington
fiction to be exact. But the authors
of the Time interpretation note
that "it remained far from clear
whether the President had ac-
tually tried to hurt Stevenson ...
'Much of the evidence was to the
contrary. What had probably hap-
pended was that some New Fron-
tiersmen, knowing of the Presi-
dent's lack of deep affection for
Adlai, had felt free to knock him."
* * *
PROBABLY NO ONE will know
what really went on at the con-
ferences regarding Cuba until 25
years from now when some his-
torian digs deep into the archives
for a doctoral thesis. The situa-
tion is still too near in an his-
torical perspective to be clear. And
for security's sake there will prob-
ably be no investigation of the
matter at least until President
John F. Kennedy is out of the
White House.
But in reality, the issue is not
the stand Stevenson took. After
all, in the follow-through Steven-
son acted with precision and
strength.
The issue is what happened to
the privacy of high-level confer-
ences over national security. If
Stevenson disagreed, it should be
taken as a good sign that he was
free to express his opinion. In
fact, one should hope that not
every one agreed with an initial
idea. Discussion and evaluation of
different points of view would af-
ford fuller understanding of the
issues and the resulting actions
should profit by the intermediate
considerations.
If every time an administrative
official disagreed there were ban-
ner headlines in national maga-
zines the results would be tre-
mendous. Officials would soon stop
volunteering to give their own
ideas for fear of criticism.
WHEREAS in many decision-
making processes it will hurt no
one to have all the issues brought
forth in public, in the case of
national security an administra-
tion wishes to follow a unified
line of attack against the "enemy."
In order to do this there should
be full discussion before policy is
made and this includes disagree-
ment, modification and compro-
mise. But once this is done, the
policy is set forth and supported
by all those in higher positions.
If newspapers and magazines
continue to attack personages like
Stevenson no one can be more
hurt than the administration and
the nation.
As Newsweek put it, "the most
precious commodity a government
can have is honest advice by in-
formed and intelligent men.
"The question is whether Adla
Stevenson-or any other member
of the nation's highest councils of
government-should be permitted
to speak his mind freely."
-1) WAl 3m - Al*3 -A 4 ^

WELLES:
'Journey'
Plods
A long
SOON AFTER he had made
"Citizen Kane," Orsen Welles
took an Eric Ambler spy mystery
and produced what he probably
felt would be an exciting movie.
It's too bad that he didn't have
more of a hand in "Journey Into
Fear," other than producing it
and acting a part.
Maybe if he had directed it and
written the screenplay as he did
in "Citizen Kane" a great spy
film would have been made. The
ingredients are there, but they
have not been mixed correctly.
What we have here is a so-so ad-
venture, mystery, spy movie that
has too little adventure, mystery
or spying.
Joseph Cotton is the harassed
munitions expert leaving Turkey.
His life is in danger because he
is too valuable to the Turkish
government and too dangerous t
its enemies. Various incidents in-
volving close scrapes with death
are meant to propel Cotton
through the movie to leave the
viewer panting from suspense and
adventure. This is rarely the case.
THE ACTING is good, but still
on the usual thriller-of-a-movie
level. The only fascinating thing
about "Journey Into Fear" is its
cinematography. It's a good guess
that Welles had something to do
with it. His technique for phoo-
graphing scenes, so well done in
"Citizen Kane," is obvious here:
odd angles, mingling shadows,
chiaroscuro lighting.
The fault with the script is
not the lack of credibility as is
the case in many spy movies, but
the lack of real adventure, sus-
pense or thrilling tension. There's
no real, action on the cattle boat
on which Cotton gets stuck-just
some cute characterizations. Cot-
ton's acting has the usual restraint
for a man whose life is in danger
in a spy movie.
-Michael Juliar
LETTERS
to the
EDITOR
To the Editor:
AS THE LATIN Americanist of
this department I am distress-
ed by the reports that I read in
the press of the dismissal of Pro-
fessor Samuel Shapiro from-Mich-
igan State University-Oakland. I
realize from forty years of ex-
perience in university life that
delicate factors often enter into
such decisions, but I find it dif-
ficult to understand the contradic-
tory statements and improper
comments by Dean George Matth-
ews quoted in the Press.
Professor Shapiro has demon-
strated acceptable scholarship to
the guild of historians as well as
an ability to reach a larger au-
dience. And it seems incredible
to me that an academic adminis-
trator would declare that a dis-
cussion of controversial matters
pertaining to Cuba and Latin
America is undesirable The ig-
norance of our people in things
Latin American -is excessive and
dangerous for our national wel-
fare.
Many of us here have thought
of the Oakland institution as an
admirable experiment in progres-
sive education at the college level
and have wished it well, but such
attitudes on freedom of discussion

on the part of administrators
creates the depressing conviction
that the Michigan State Univer-
sity at Oakland is, in fact, retro-
gressive.
-Prof. Irving A. Leonard
History Department
NAACP*.*
To the Editor:
CERTAINLY, it is true that left
and right elements in this
country often deviate from real
and worthy goals. More than often
they are extreme and defensive
in rationalizing injustices heaped
upon them as may be the, case
of the NAACP in its so-called bid
for preferential treatment' in
American textbooks. However,
when such a group's value is judg-
ed solely on what may be a weak-
ness after obtaining more rights
for Negroes than any voluntary
recognition by whites of the per-
sonal merit of individual Negroes,
obviously something is wrong.
It requires a great deal of mag-
nanimousrestraint to understand
the demand that Negroes although
culturally bereaved, economically
exploited and politically inferior
display virtues not equal but su-
perior than those of his more ad-
vantaged white brother. By what
right does one demand that a
Negro organization be more nobler
and generous with faults than
other groups, and then to evaluate
them singularly on frequent fail-
ings. It would seem that the mi-
nority always has to be more per-
fect than the dominant majority.
Freedom is not given for pro-
na.r hahnlin nv rphieaiment,

11

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